Bosnians honor wartime victims

Bosnian youth, members of NGO "Izvor" tie white bandanas on passing citizens of Sarajevo, on Thursday, May 31, 2012. The "white bandana day" campaign invites people to put an end to genocide denial by marking 20 years since the day, in the beginning of Bosnia's inter-ethnic war 1992-95, when Bosnian Serb authorities issued an order for non-Muslim population of Western-Bosnian town of Prijedor to clearly mark their houses with white flags and to wear white bandanas in public. This was the second time in modern history that such a method of public segregation was implemented in Europe. The first case was recorded in 1939, in Nazi occupied Poland, when Polish Jews were ordered to be marked in similar fashion. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Residents of Bosnia-Herzegovina are wearing white armbands to honor 3,000 non-Serbs who died in a northwest Bosnian city during the country's 1992-95 war.

The armbands have become a symbol of the victims of a campaign by Bosnian Serb forces to drive non-Serbs from areas where they lived. It began May 31, 1992, with orders for Muslims in the city of Prijedor to identify themselves as such by displaying white clothes in their windows and wearing white armbands.

Last week, Muslims and Catholics tried to gather in Prijedor to commemorate the victims, but the mayor banned the event. That led to the idea for Bosnians around the country to wear the white bands on Thursday.